Combined bandoleer and waist-belt rifle-carrier.



PATENTED DEC. 1, 1903.

E. H. B. LAING.

COMBINED BANDOLBER AND WAIST BELT RIFLE CARRIER.

APPLICATION FILED FEB. 14, 1903.

NO MODEL.

UNITED STATES atented December 1, i903.

PATENT OFFICE.

EDWIN HENRY BERTRAM LAING, OF LONDON, ENGLAND, ASSIGNOR OF ONE-EIGHTH TO GEORGE W'ARRIE CLARKE, OF LONDON, ENGLAND.

COMBlNED BANDOLEER AND WAIST-BELT RIFLE-CARRIER.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 745,866, dated December 1, 1903.

Application filecl February 14, 1903. Serial No. 143,356. (No model.)

To (LZZ whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, EDWIN HENRY BERTRAM IIAING, a subject of the King of Great Britain and Ireland, and a resident of London, England, have invented a certain new and useful Combined Bandoleer and IVaist-Belt Rifle- Carrier, (for which I have filed applications for patents in Transvaal, No. 4&8, dated July 15, 1902; in Cape Colony, dated August 8, 1902; in Natal, dated August 15, 1902, and in Great Britain, No. 17,578, dated August 11, 1902;) and I do hereby declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description of the same.

This invention relates to a combined riflecarrying bandoleer and waist-belt suitable for military and civil use whether mounted or on foot.

The device has been designed with the objects of avoiding the inconveniences incidental to the use of the ordinary rifle-slings (with which the magazine-trigger guard and other projecting parts of the rifle are liable to unduly wear the clothes and to chafe the wearer) and rifle-buckets when mounted (with which the horse is liable to be chafed) and of distributing the weight of the rifle over the person and enabling the rifle to be more speedily brought into action.

On the accompanying drawings, Figure 1 represents the improved device extended in the flat. Figs. 2 and 3 represent front and back views of the device in use, and Fig. 4 is a detail view.

In the device there is attached to a waistbelt a, provided with fasteningstrap and buckle parts a, a front bandoleer I), provided with pockets or pouches b for carrying ammunition and with fastening-straps b at its free end, and a back rifle-carrying band 0, provided with a socket 0, adapted to receive and embrace the barrel of a rifle, and with fastening-buckles c at its free end, the bandoleer and the rifle-carrying band being so located relatively to the waist-belt and to each other that (ride Figs. and on the waist-belt being secured around the body and the bandoleer passed up across the body and the riflecarrying band passed up across the back the bandoleer and band can be secured together over the shoulder at a part convenient of access to the wearer and with the belt bandoleer and band closely fitting to the body.

In alinement with the direction of the riflecarrying band the belt is provided with an upturned angularly-disposed hook c adapted to support the stock of the rifle. To this end the grip portion of the rifle-stock is fitted with a sliding loop (Z, having a loose end (1, through which the rifle-stock is passed and by which it is securely embraced, anda loose end (1 securing a ring d adapted to be supported by the hook 0 The hook is preferably made as a spring-hook or is so shaped as to securely embrace the ring when placed in it and to require the employment of some little force to remove the ring from the hook in order to prevent the rifle from becoming detached in ordinary use. In alinement with the direction of the rifle-carrying band the belt is also provided with a hip-guard 0 against which the magazine-tri gger guard and other projecting parts d of the rifle are adapted to lie flatwise when the device is in use. The socket c, hook c and hip-guard c are thus so located that when the device is in use (with the barrel of the rifle passed upward through the socket and the stock of the rifle hung from the hook) the rifle will hang flatwise against the rifle-carrying band and hipguard, with no part of it lying against the clothing of the wearer. The belt may also be provided with a bayonet-scabbard, holster, or other sheath 6 for side arms and with pouches or pockets for ammunition like to those carried by the bandoleer.

A second bandoleer with a back-strap may be applied to the belt, so as to cross the other.

Among the advantages incidental to the device are its simplicity, comfort, and the speed with which it enables the rifle to be brought into action in any position. For a mounted marr it gives the free use of both hands, giving him complete control over his horse, permitting him to mount and to dismount quickly and without encumbrance, enabling him to bring his rifle into use at any pace the horse may be going at, and in the case of his being thrown and his horse bolting he has remaining with him the means of defending himself, and in the event of his being armed with a sword, lance, or other equipment the device allows of the free use of such weapon. For

infantry on active service it is a comfortable means of carrying a rifle, the angle at which the rifle is hung distributing the weight equally over the body and causing a perfect balance, and, as is also the case with the mounted user, the clothing is protected at all parts where friction of the rifle parts would be likely to unduly wear the same, and chafing by the rifle is avoided.

To put on the device, the left hand is used to guide the rifle-barrel into the socket 0, while the rifle loop-ring d is dropped by the right hand into the hook 0 To remove the device, the loop (Z is held firmly in the right hand, while the thumbis pressed on the hook, and with a slight upward movement the ring is removed from the back, when the weight of the rifle will carry it out of the socket, whereupon the rifle is brought into position with a quick swing around.

\Vhat I claim as my invention, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is

A combined bandoleer and waist-belt adapted to carry a rifle and consisting of a waistbelt to which a front bandoleer and a backband are attached in such positions that when the belt is secured around the body the bandoleer and back-band can be passed around crosswise of the body and secured together over the shoulder, the belt having a hipguard and a hook adapted to receive a ring strapped to the stock of a rifle, and the backband having a socket adapted to embrace the barrel of a rifle, so as, jointly with the hook, to support the rifle flatwise against the backband belt and hip-guard in a position enabling it to be removed by raising the riflestock ring from the belt-hook and withdrawin g the rifle-barrel from the back-band socket, as set forth.

In testimony whereof I have signed this specification in the presence of two subscribing witnesses.

EDWIN HENRY BERTRAM LAING.

Vitnesses:

Sr. GEORGE CLAUD CAMPBELL LAING, BERNARD LEO Drum: 

